On Wednesday 9 February, Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and The Border attended an event in the Houses of Parliament to mark Children’s Mental Health Week 2022. The event was organized by Place2Be, a charity providing mental health support in schools across the UK.
Place2Be launched the first ever Children’s Mental Health Week in 2015 to shine a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health. 2022 marks the eighth year of the awareness week and this year's theme, Growing Together, explores the importance of emotional growth and finding ways to help each other grow.
Over 40 Members of Parliament met Place2Be representatives and headteachers in the Jubilee Room to find out more the charity’s work promoting wellbeing within the school community. As one in six children now have a diagnosable mental health issue, the event was a vital opportunity to learn about Place2Be’s important work and to discuss what more can be done to address this growing need.
Dr Hudson said:
“The mental health of our children and young folk is vital. There needs to be a parity of esteem between physical and mental health and fantastic charities such as Place2Be do brilliant work in supporting children but also raising awareness. The Covid pandemic has been so hard for children as they were restricted from socialising with their peers and had to adapt to learning from home. Rural isolation and loneliness are acutely felt in Penrith and The Border with children often living in different towns and villages to their friends and classmates. This is something I have triggered our Commons EFRA Select Committee, on which I sit, to look at in our upcoming Rural Mental Health Inquiry.
I am pleased that, as part of the five year Government funding offer agreed in 2019, mental health services will receive budget growth of £2.3 billion the fastest uplift in funding. Crucially, this will enable further service expansion and faster access to community and crisis mental health services for both adults and particularly children and young people. The Government could still go further on mental health, this is something that I raised in my maiden speech in the House of Commons two years ago and have been campaigning on ever since.”
You can find out more at childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk
